North Korea has killed people for watching foreign television. (As testified by this brave girl who escaped to freedom.)

Even the French Revolution outlawed theater that wasn’t sufficiently political. (No kidding!)

And why does the authoritarian fear free speech? Because they truly fear exposure as a fraud, and worse, the mocking laughter of their enemies and ridicule of the people.

Here is what’s going on beyond the ‘great firewall of China’:

Winnie the Pooh has joined a line of crazy, funny internet references to China’s top leaders.
The Chinese name for and images of the plump, cute cartoon character are being blocked on social media sites here because bloggers have been comparing him to China’s president.
When Xi Jinping and Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe endured one of the more awkward handshakes in history netizens responded with Winnie the Pooh and Eeyore shaking hands.

…In other countries such comparisons might be thought of as harmless enough and some might even think that having Winnie as your mascot could even be quite endearing: not in China.
Here the president is Mr Grey. He doesn’t do silly things; he has no quirky elements; he makes no mistakes and that is why he is above the population and unable to be questioned.
The previous Chinese Leader Hu Jintao had a catchphrase of “promoting a harmonious society” or, in Chinese, hexie 和谐.
Bloggers started to refer to being censored as having been “harmonised” …
-Read More

Sample pictures:

Take a good look at this foolish insecurity.

Take a good look at the end point of restricted speech.

That which is critical of powerful people or powerful interests becomes outlawed. Becomes censored. Becomes suppressed.

Is that a trade-off you are REALLY willing to make just so that someone’s feelings don’t get hurt?

If so, go live in China, Pakistan, Canada or some other country where the wrong speech can get you arrested.

Or if you don’t want to leave America, read this, and take your testicles out of the PC lockbox.

And the next time someone tells you China is ‘powerful’, remind them that their President is afraid of Winnie The Pooh.

Doug Giles, best-selling author of Raising Righteous And Rowdy Girls and Editor-In-Chief of the mega-blog, ClashDaily.com, has just penned a book he guarantees will kick hipster males into the rarefied air of masculinity. That is, if the man-child will put down his frappuccino; shut the hell up and listen and obey everything he instructs them to do in his timely and tornadic tome. Buy Now:The Effeminization Of The American Male

Share if free speech is only ‘free’ if offensive speech is legal, too.

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